"It was difficult": Emma Raducanu reveals injury forces her to 'shut off' from watching tennis

Britian’s Emma Raducanu has revealed that she couldn’t ‘watch anything’ during her time on the sidelines. The 21-year-old’s short career has been marred with injuries. She returned to the court earlier this year after spending more than eight months on the sidelines.

Even though Raducanu played throughout the season, she continued to struggle with fitness struggles and was forced to miss some events. Her most recent appearance was in the Korea Open where the former world number 10 was forced to retire from the quarterfinal against Russia’s Daria Kasatkina because of an injury.

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Raducanu, who was once regarded as the next big thing, especially once she lifted the US Open title at the age of 18 in 2021, has been recently quoted in a report by The Tennis Gazette where she explained how difficult it has been to overcome fitness concerns. The Toronto-born stated that one of things which was extremely hard for her to manage during the time off was to see everything ‘go past’ which forced her to ‘shut it off’. She stated that she eventually ‘couldn’t watch anything’ during that time.

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“I was out for eight months and I had three surgeries and the rehab wasn’t as straightforward as everyone planned,” she said. “Initially the return to play was only meant to be four months and it ended up being double because I came back a bit too quickly and then did more damage. So I think I also learned a lesson in patience and trying to rush things. In terms of coming back it takes a while to get up to the speed of the game. The match is different from practice as well and introduces unpredictability, so I think now I’m just more grateful for my health than results. When you’re on the sidelines watching everything go past you and yeah it was difficult, I just had to shut it off and I actually couldn’t watch anything.”